Appendix C Other Sources of Information on sensitivity of the eyes and testes In the most recent proposed revisions of RF safety standards, the IEEE SC4 committee (2001) deliberated at length over the problem of peak power limits and non-uniform RF exposure with respect to the eye and testes. The quotes below come from committee drafts submitted in response to questions from the committee moderator. ANSI/IEEE standards adopted in 1992 (C95.1-1992) and 1999 revisions June 2001 SC-4 Committee Minutes These committee discussions are informative on the issue of particular organ sensitivity to RF, and unanswered questions and differences of opinion on the subject among members. They discussed vulnerable organs (eyes, testes) and metallic implants that can intensify localized RF exposures within the body and its tissues (see also discussion on metallic implants). Question 20: Are there specific tissues or points within the body that have particularly high susceptibilities to local heating due to thermal properties in the immediate vicinity of the tissue? Committee minutes include the following discussion on the particular sensitivities of ‘ball shaped’ organs including the eyes and testes.
“Eye balls are commonly regarded as the critical organ”
“In the range of a few GHz (gigahertz), reasonances may occur in ball shaped eyes and testes. They are also electrically and thermally partly insulated from other tissues. Additionally these organs or some of their parts (lens) are thermally a little bit more vulnerable than other tissues.”
“(m)odeling has noted that rapid changes in dialectrics such as cerebral spinal fluid in the ventricles of the brain and surrounding brain tissue lead to high calculated SARs. Secondly, exposure of the eye to microwave radiation can lead to increased temperature that is sufficient to damage tissues. The temperature rise will, of course, depend on the intensity of the irradiation, how well the energy is coupled into tissues, and how well the deposited energy is removed by normal mechanisms such as conduction and blood flow. Microwaves at the lower frequencies will be deposited deeper in the eye, while at higher frequencies they will be absorbed near the front surface of the eye. The eye does not efficiently remove heat deposited internally by microwave exposure. The main avenue of heat removal is conduction and blood flow through the retina and choroid. The lens has been thought to be the most vulnerable tissue since it has no blood flow. Other than conduction through the sclera and convection from the surface of the cornea, heat removal is poor compared to other body tissues. Because the lens is avasular it has been thought to be particularly sensitive to thermal effects of microwave exposure. These facts have led many investigators to postulate that the poor heat dissipation from within the eye of humans and other animals may lead to heat buildup and subsequent thermal damage.”
“Eyes do not have good blood circulation and testes have lower than body temperature.”
“These organs are not well-perfused, hence have been singled out for the exclusion.”
“Are the above numbers valid for all parts of the body in all exposure conditions over the time averaging period of the exposure? They (the basic limits) were derived in the manner you describe in body reasonance conditions i.e. coherent exposure over the whole body length of a human. Could the limit values of SAR be increased for partial body exposure? Yes, but we do not have the data to make this decision. In the near field of a source, clearly the limit value will depend on frequency (depth of penetration), organ blood supply and tolerance of that organism to sustain a certain rate of temperature increase during the time averaging period and the environmental conditions. If you have to deal with possible pathologies of organs then matters become even more complicated, because you are dealing not only with heat physiology, but also with general pathology, whose books are much thicker than those on physiology.
